The Big Easy trailhead is officially open! Experience it for yourself at 32088 US Highway 6, Golden. Almost nine miles West of the US6/Hwy 58/Hwy 93 intersection.

Adding another .75 miles to the Peaks to Plains Trail, The Big Easy trailhead and recreation area has a permanent restroom, 54 parking spaces, fishing platforms over the water, picnic pavilions, a geology garden, and a boardwalk in areas where vegetation needs to be protected. A new bridge also spans the creek, leading onto the Peaks to Plains Trail, which connects to the Mayhem Gulch trailhead westward up the canyon. Opening cable cutting ceremony photos can be viewed here.

Join us for the opening ceremony of the new Peaks to Plains trailhead located at 32087 US Highway 6, Golden CO, 80403, or nine miles west from the intersection of 6th Avenue/Hwy 93/Hwy 58.

The ceremony will conclude with a ‘cable-cutting’ at 3:30 p.m., using the same cable seen on the new bridges in the canyon, and harkening back to the mining era. Visitors will then be able to enter The Big Easy and the Peaks to Plains Trail.

Food trucks and activities will be available until 6:00 p.m. Visitors are encouraged to carpool as parking will be limited. Parking at the Mayhem Gulch trailhead is suggested on this opening day, with access to the Big Easy trailhead via the newly connected Peaks to Plains Trail. The trail will open at Mayhem Gulch trailhead at 3:30 p.m.

The Peaks to Plains Trail, a key future state-wide connection, will gain another three quarters of a mile on Friday, September 29, 2017. This section adds more to the popular trail, which will eventually span the entirety of Clear Creek Canyon, all the way to Golden. In addition to the new trail, a developed recreation area and trailhead will open to the public in the part of the canyon known as ‘The Big Easy’.

The Big Easy trailhead and recreation area will have a restroom, 54 parking spaces, fishing platforms over the water, picnic pavilions, a geology garden, and a boardwalk in areas where vegetation needs to be protected. A new bridge also spans the creek, leading onto the Peaks to Plains Trail, which connects to the Mayhem Gulch trailhead westward up the canyon.